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    1990 - Preservation and Conservation of Waterlogged Bone Florida

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    1990 - Preservation and Conservation of Waterlogged Bone Florida

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    Preservation and conservation of waterlogged bone Florida

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    1990 - Preservation and Conservation of Waterlogged Bone Florida

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    The Preservation and Conservation of Waterlogged Bone from the Windover Site, Florida: A Comparison of Methods Tammy T. Stone; David N. Dickel; Glen H. Doran Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 17, No. 2. (Summer, 1990), pp. 177-186. Stable URL: hitp://links,jstor.org/sie¥?sici=0093-4690% 28 199022%2917%3A2%3C 177%3ATPACOW%3E2.0,CO%3B2-H Journal of Field Archaeology is currently published by Boston University ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hhup:/www.jstororg/about/terms.huml. JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at hup:/www jstor-org/journals/boston htm Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @jstor.org. hupulwwwjstor.org/ ‘Wed May 10 16:52:17 2006 7 The Preservation and Conservation of Waterlogged Bone from the Windover Site, Florida: A Comparison of Methods Tammy T. Stone ‘Asiaora State Unversy Tempe, Arizona David N. Dickel Glen H. Doran Florida State University “allhasee, Florida Recovery and stabilization of waterlogged bone require special conservation procedres to ‘prevent cracking, splitting, and distortion. Conservation of the skeletal remains from the ‘Windover Site (8BR246), Titusville, Florida, wsed two consolidants, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Rhwplex AC-33. A comparison oftheir performance is presented with the sug- _gestion that Rhoplex produces superior results. Introduction ‘As urban development expands into wetlands, an in- ‘creasing number of saturated archaeological sites is being uncovered (Beriault et al. 1981; Clausen, Brooks, and Wesolowsky 1975; Clausen, Cohen, and Emiliani 1979; Croes 1976; Doran et al. 1986; Purdy 1980; Wharton, Ballo, and Hope 1981). These sites often yield large quan- tities of waterlogged organic materials, including wood, antler, cordage, and skeletal remains requiring specialized procedures in excavation, conservation, and curation. Such a situation was encountered at the Windover site (8BR246), near Titusville, Florida (F16. 1), which was discovered in 1982 during road construction in the Wind- ‘over Farms housing development. Archacological inves- tigation (August to January of 1984, 1985, and 1986) required installation of an extensive water removal system 10 allow excavation as much as 5 m below the water table (Doran and Dickel 1988a: 268). Water levels and microenvironmental changes are re- flected in the development of five visually distinct strata from bottom to top, a water lily peat, a “rubber” or gyttjae Peat, in turn replaced by a stratigraphically distinct lower red-brown peat, and an upper red-brown peat, all overlain by a black peat (Doran and Dickel 19884: 283-284). ‘Some 4000 years after the peat started forming, Early Archaic peoples began placing burials in the loosely-con- solidated lower red-brown peat stratum. A minimum of 168 articulated and disarticulated individuals of all ages and both sexes have been recovered. Ninety-one individ- uals produced preserved brain masses in. which micro- scopic, macroscopic, and biochemical features are identi- fiable (Doran et al. 1986: 804-808), Nine radiocarbon dates, involving standard radiocarbon assay and accelerator mass spectrometry dating on human bone, wooden stakes, and the remains of a bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) with a burial, yield a mean date of 7442 bop. (uncorrected) (Doran and Dickel 1988b: 373). Seventeen other dates taken for ancillary sedimentological, petrographic, zooarchacological, ethnobotanical, and pa- Iynological studies indicate the burial activities took place between 8120 and 6990 b.p. Burials are restricted to the lower red-brown peat stratum, Windover also provides a diverse artifact inventory including a large collection of hhandwoven fabrics; shark and Canidae tooth tools; bone, antler, shell, and wooden tools; and a small collection of lithies (Doran and Dickel 1988a: 273-275), ‘A conservation program was implemented in the field in order to prevent deterioration and eventual loss of this ‘material. The use of appropriate consolidants during con- servation can help ensure longterm survival and stability. ‘Two consolidants, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Rho- plex AC-33, have been used for the successful treatment of waterlogged bone (Brown 1974; Koob 1984: 99; Wing 1983). Treatment methods using both were «m- ployed in the conservation of Windover skeletal remains, and our experiences with these consolidants should be 178 Conseroation of Waterlagged BonelStone, Dike, and Doran LOCATION OF THE WINDOVER SITE 9190 290 390 490 WILES Figure 1. Map location ofthe Windover site (8BR246). The site is approximately 23 km from the Atlantic Ocean but ony 6 km from the Indian River lagoon estuary system, useful to anyone dealing with waterlogged osseous ma- terial. Bone Morphology and Taphonomic Changes Bone consists of organic (primarily collagen) and in- organic (hydroxyapatite crystals) material (Pritchard 1972: 5). Inorganic crystals ofa calcium phosphate deriv- ative (specifically Cayo(PO,}s(OH)2) are deposited on col- lagen fibers, and organic and inorganic constituents are bound together by a cement consisting primarily of mu- ‘copolysaccharides (Ortner and Putschar 1985: 24). Var- ious constituents of bone are differentially affected and. degraded by the depositional microenvironment. Addi- tionally, when any one of the three deteriorates, the other two are affected, Several environmental factors can cause degradation in buried bone. The three most significant diagenetic factors are a) abundance and composition of ground water; b) temperature; and c) soil composition, especially the amount of calcium, phosphate, hydroxide, and hydrogen ions. All these factors interact to determine the pH of the microenvironment. Additionally, vascularization and min- eral density of the bone and other age-related bone char- acteristics contribute to the postdepositional stability of bone (Walker, Johnson, and Lambert 1988: 188). ‘Water weakens the bonds between the organic and in- organic constituents of the matrix, and the bone becomes ‘more susceptible to further deterioration, As the bonds ‘weaken, more water is absorbed and mechanically breaks the bonds, so that the process continues in a progressive ‘manner (Haynes 1981; Plenderleith 1956: 145; von Endt 1984). ‘Temperature affects the degradation of bone in several ways. Periodic freezing causes water expansion, resulting in mechanical microfractures that can lead in turn to split- line cracking and spalling (Koob 1984: 98). Fluctuation in temperature also contributes to deterioration by mod- ifying the chemical environment of the bone, the reactions establishing a new chemical equilibrium often resulting in degenerative changes (Behrensmeyer 1978; Haynes 1981; von Endt 1984). Soil composition affects the stability of buried bone. If either the soil or water is highly mineralized, mineral exchange can occur with the bone’s inorganic component, thus changing its elemental makeup. For example, the hydroxyapatite crystals are affected by the presence of calcium and phosphate ions in the environment. When there is an imbalance between these elements, the bone reacts with the soil in an attempt to establish an equilib- rium. If the soil is caleium-rich and phosphate-poor, bone phosphates will migrate into the soil o form a more stable calcium phosphate compound (leading to demineraliza- tion of the bone). The opposite is true with phosphate rich, calcium-poor soils. Other mineral compounds, especially silicates and car- bonates, can penetrate and replace the organic component ot invade the areas that formerly held water. This can eventually lead to mineralization or fossilization of the bone (Badone and Farquhar 1982; von Endt 1984), Free hydrogen atoms in highly acidic environments can Figure 2. PEG-induced staining, The darkened patch of bone is loosely woven thin bone beneath which a large mandibular abscess has developed replace calcium atoms in hydroxyapatite crystals (Plender- leith 1956; von Endt 1984; White and Hanus 1983: 316), and the relationship between low matrix pH and bone degradation has been demonstrated in several studies (Brothwell 1981: 7-8; Gordon and Buikstra 1981: 570; White and Hanus 1983: 322; Koob 1984: 98). Not all bone is equally affected, however. Trabecular bone has ‘more surface area, and its degradation is more evident than in compact laminar bone, Additionally, subadult skel- tal elements, with incomplete organiclinorganic bonding, are affected more rapidly than adult bones (Behrensmeyer 1978; Gordon and Buikstra 1981: 569; Haynes 1981; Walker, Johnson, and Lambert 1988: 186) A high soil pH (reflecting alkaline or basic conditions) also leads to deterioration when hydroxide molecules re- place phosphates, producing calcium hydroxide in the in- organic component of the bone (von Endt 1984). When the crystallization of insoluble salts occurs inside the bone, splitting and spalling can occur to accommodate crystal growth (Behrensmeyer 1978: 154). ‘The organic component of bone also degenerates as it reacts with its environment. When both water and oxygen are present, microorganisms attack the collagen. As the collagen decomposes, free hydrogen ions form and in- crease hydroxyapatite crystal deterioration (von Endt 1984; White and Hanus 1983: 321). Both high and low pHs contribute to the protein hydrolysis, which weakens the chemical bonds between the organic and inorganic ‘components (Hare 1980: 208; von Endt 1984), Within the Windover site, bones exhibit variability in degradation according to stratigraphic location within the peat matrix. Chemical analysis of 10 water samples from Journal of Field Archacology/Vol. 17, 1990 179 various contexts and detailed peat analysis point to mul- tiple conditions affecting preservation. In comparison to central Florida spring water, Windover water (TABLE 1) and peats from bone-bearing strata have substantially higher levels of calcium, magnesium, copper, and total dissolved solids as well as more nearly neutral pHI levels (5.9-6.75). In contrast, most south Florida sawgrass ‘marshes and mangrove swamps exhibit pHs from 7.7 to 8.05, and higher levels of carbonate and noncarbonate hardness, carbon dioxide, and strontium (Upchurch, Strom, and William 1983). Windover peat strata exhibit chemical variation (raBLE 2), with the lower red-brown peat providing better preservation than either the overty- ing or underlying peat levels, which have little or no preserved bone. Parameters important in bone preserva- tion changed during sedimentation as a consequence of fluctuations in both pond floral communities and water chemistry. The water-lily peat currently has a neutral pH, bbut no bone from turtes, frogs, fish, or other pond dwell- cts is preserved, suggesting acidic conditions at the time of deposition. In situ bone from deeper, nearly neutral deposits appears sound if slightly fragile, and little exfoli- ation is evident in contrast to bone found closer to the surface and more subject to environmental fluctuation, Preliminary elemental analysis also indicates bone stron- tium levels 5-10 times higher than normal, with elevated levels of sodium, manganese, aluminum, and iron, but low calcium levels (R. Hancock, personal communication, 1986; Szpunar 1977: 14-43). ‘Mineralization has not taken place, although significant Joss of the organic component of the bone has occurred, The Isotrace Laboratory's 1987 accelerator mass spec- trometry analysis indicates collagen levels of 1.5~1.8% in contrast to 20-30% concentrations expected in fresh bone (Fare 1980: 209). At least traces of other organic bone compounds such as transferrin, albumin, immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin N (IgN), immunoglobulin A (IgA), and haptoglobin are also preserved in some bone from the site (David Glenn Smith, personal communica- tion, 1989). Preservation of cystine and methionine (both amino acids) has been noted. Carbon and nitrogen iso- topes show variable diagenetic changes, and fragments of blood veins have also been identified in the bone matrix (N. Taross, personal communication, 1989). Preservation of these substances is variable and appears poorest in bone physically closer to the overlying, more acidic surface peat layers Choices of Treatment When slow air drying was attempted, warping, split- ting, cracking, and exfoliation occurred, suggesting. di- 180 Conservation of Waterlogged Bone'Stone, Dickel, and Doran Table 1. Characteristics of Windover waters (standing and discharge waters). Temperature of subsurface water 18.9-23.3°C with seasonal variability. All water analysis performed by Flowers Chemical Laboratories, Altamonte Springs, FL. Tae prc ‘Sepia oan wae War ciel om Taboratory Namber 10492 ~—*10604-—=«8789—=«79S—~=«RISG~=~«*WOWO~=TO7~—«9162 =I SR ‘Total dissolved solids*™ 30325 1418014475 12175 13280-35200 14200 3872.0 6028058160 Total hardness} 5396 275 7164 6670629774 4525 104501560 77110 Carbonatehardnesss 305 nd «312228 D0RO. 1257 D872 BT 48 Noncarbonatehardnest 5091 $275 6852 G442—««S217 = AS74436 «9REA 1106076680 “Total ltalininy* 305 4982 312,228 10808788727 a Carbon dioxide 2483 "64 3815538 76 343874832 Dissolved onygen* nd ond, <002 43811 nd ond, 7223S “Total phosphate" nd ond 099

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